Social and legal status of women in the Russian Empire in the last quarter of the XIX — early XX century



The article is devoted to the issue of social and legal status of women in Russian society in the last quarter of the XIX — early XX century.

Keywords : women's history, Russian Empire, Russian society, socio-legal status of women.

In Russia up to the 19th century, the role of women in society was based entirely on their family status. First of all, a woman was a wife, mother, daughter, sister. Her appointment from nature was to give birth and bring up children, organize the life, run the household. Women of lower and middle classes worked and received wages, which were often lower than those of men. Education, especially home education, was mostly available to women from the upper strata of society.

This low status of women was largely justified by the conservative-patriarchal concept that a woman had to devote all her energies to her family and children, and that economic independence could distract her from domestic activities and the upbringing of the younger generation. In addition, it was believed that a woman was less intelligent than a man, and in the process of growth of self-consciousness and activity could lose all the best «properties of female nature» [1, р. 10].

But with the advent of the XIX century, the position of women in society begins to change, they get more rights and freedoms. Women began to fight actively, first of all, for the rights to education, including higher education, as well as paid work.

The reforms of the mid-nineteenth century were able to bring about changes in the educational sphere. Until the middle of the 19th century, the “breeding grounds” of secondary female education in Russia were the institutes of the department of the Empress Maria's institutions, diocesan theological schools and private boarding schools. However, these educational institutions could not meet the growing educational needs of Russian society [2, р. 1].

It is also worth noting that in many provinces by the end of the 1850s there were neither private boarding schools for women nor a single educational institution for girls from poor families. However, girls from the bureaucratic, noble, and clergy classes had the right to study in closed class institutions, institutes, diocesan schools, and private boarding schools [3, р. 29].

However, for a long time women did not have the opportunity to receive higher education. With the support of professors from the Moscow and St. Petersburg Universities, the first Higher Women's Courses (Lubyansky in Moscow and Alarchinsky in St. Petersburg) were founded in 1869. In the 1870s, similar courses were opened not only in the capitals but also in other Russian cities, such as Kiev in 1878, Kazan and Odessa in 1879.

However, the policy towards the Higher Women's Courses was ambiguous; they were opened and closed. Because of this largely unstable situation, many women who wanted to necessarily get a higher education, went abroad and studied at universities in France, Switzerland and other European countries.

But although various educational institutions for women were opened in the Russian Empire, access to education was still closed for the majority of the female population. The development of both secondary and higher education was mainly aimed at satisfying the interests of women from different, and most importantly, privileged strata of society. In addition, illiterate women were easy to use as cheap labor, and society still retained conservative and patriarchal attitudes about women as housewives and mothers.

It is worth noting that in the Russian Empire in pre-revolutionary times, the structure of women's legal status was created over a long period of time. The inequality of women and men was not only actual, but was also formalized legally, first being fixed in the norms of customary law, and then legally — in laws [3, р. 56].

In family relations, a woman was completely dependent on her parents and husband. The wife had to live with her husband, support him, follow him to his place of residence [3, р. 59]. She could get a separate residence permit only with his permission. Also, without his permission, the wife could not be hired for work, although her husband could not hire her out without her consent either. The wife was obliged to obey her husband as head of the household, to love, honor and obey him in everything, and as a mistress to please and show affection [4, р. 62].

It is only worth paying attention to the work of Russian lawyer and publicist Yakov Abramovich Kantorovich «Laws on Women». The work is a collection of regulations of current legislation relating to the female sex and was published in St. Petersburg in 1899. Having familiarized with the table of contents of the collection of laws, one can already understand what spheres of life of women in pre-revolutionary Russia were of interest to society and the state and were legally formalized in the articles of laws.

The work consists of 11 chapters devoted to the position of women in civil and criminal law, property rights, rights in trade and industry, the legalization of residence permits and passports for women, participation in noble, zemstvo and city assemblies, as well as rights and privileges granted by ranks and orders. The text also includes articles of laws concerning women's education, rights to pensions and allowances, the guardianship of female orphans, and the employment of minors, adolescents, and women in manufactories, mills, and factories [5, р. 271].

According to the collection of laws of the late 19th century, it can be seen that by the beginning of the new century women already had legally formalized rights to produce trade, trades, could participate in noble, zemstvo and city assemblies, but legislation in these spheres of activity for women was still developing, as there were not many articles on these topics. More attention was paid to women's rights and obligations in civil and criminal law, women's marital status, divorce and inheritance.

It should be noted that by the end of the 19th century the number of sham marriages increased dramatically. They were entered into by girls, mostly from noble families or the Dissenting classes, who wanted to study abroad but could not obtain parental consent. Young men, who did not approve of the fact that women's civil rights were violated, agreed to sham marriages [6, р. 562].

In the Russian Empire in the pre-revolutionary period, enterprises in which male labor was displaced by female labor were active, because the work process itself was labor-intensive, but physically light enough for women (e.g., sewing, textile, tobacco industries). However, women were also involved in other industries, such as metallurgy, mining, etc.

The number of female factory workers in 1885 was about 30 % of all workers, whereas by the beginning of the new century it was close to 44 %. Female labor was mainly used in the processing of fibrous substances, employing about 77 % of all female factory workers. In the textile industry, 161 thousand women were employed, accounting for 38.3 % of the workers [6, р. 563].

In the ratio of the average size of wages of workers was such that the earnings of an adult woman approximately amounted to 2/3 of the earnings of an adult man. For example, for Moscow and Vladimir provinces the earnings of an adult man were 14–15 rubles, and an adult woman — 10 rubles, teenage males 15–17 years old received 7.5 rubles, and females — 6.5 rubles [7, р. 100].

But the existing legislation in the labor sphere was in its infancy and could not contribute to ensuring good working conditions for either men, let alone women or teenagers. Therefore, to regulate the various rights and obligations of factory workers, as well as their employers, the factory legislation of the Russian Empire was created, which also affected women. One of the first laws, the text of which referred to the rights and obligations of female workers, was the law of June 3, 1885 «On the prohibition of night work for minors and women in factories, plants and manufactories» [8, р. 344]. Its articles prohibited the night work of adolescents under 17 years of age and women in such enterprises as cotton, cloth and woolen factories.

Many pre-revolutionary researchers devoted their works to the Russian factory legislation and the status of women in it. For example, the life and working conditions of women employed in enterprises and factories were described in their books and dissertations by such researchers as A. F. Fedorov, B. D. Belikov and others.

In the Russian Empire in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries, women, trying to bring home income, worked not only in factories and plants, most of them were employed in the service sector. About the number of women employed in various spheres of activity, compared to men can be found by referring to the work «Distribution of workers and servants by occupation groups and place of birth on the basis of data from the first general census of the Russian Empire January 28, 1897».

It is worth noting that according to this study, there is a significant difference in gender between servants and workers. In the category of servants we find an indicator that in women is more than 60 %, and in men does not reach 40 %. If we look at the category of laborers, the number of males varies from about 75 to 80 % and for females the figure is a little more than 20 % [9, p. 1].

This law, which was primarily a temporary measure, was subsequently amended by the law of April 24, 1890, «On the Work of Minors, Adolescents and Women» [8, р. 62] which, for example, allowed women and adolescents to work at night if they worked together with their families. Another law, which was not specifically addressed to women, but still regulated their rights, was adopted on June 2, 1897 and was called «On the duration and distribution of working hours in the institutions of factory and mining industry». First of all, this legislative act enshrined the limitation of the working day to 10 hours for women.

It is also worth noting that women in the pre-revolutionary period had difficulties in entering the civil service. Women could work in government and public institutions only in writing and counting in the women's institutions of the Empress Maria Fyodorovna's department. The judicial and legal profession was closed to women for a long time.

Women were allowed to work in many jobs only after Emperor Alexander II signed the law «On the admission of women to service in public and government institutions», which occurred on January 14, 1871. It was thanks to this decree that women were able to work as telegraphers, midwives, doctors, nurses, teachers, class ladies, governesses, clerks, scribes, translators, etc. [10, р. 101].

Thus, it can be said that the status of women in the pre-revolutionary period in connection with the ongoing reforms is gradually changing, and women get more rights and freedoms. The female population gained access to education, including higher education, the opportunity to work in factories and plants, in public and governmental institutions, and to participate directly in trade and entrepreneurship.

In general, it can be noted that the social and legal status of women in post-reform Russia, compared to even the early 19th century, has undergone significant changes. First of all, the changes affected the position of Russian women in the family, society and professional sphere of activity. Thanks to the fact that women from different estates had access to education, including higher education, they were able to provide for themselves and their families as not only employees, but also as owners or co-owners of businesses, stores, stores, etc. This was undoubtedly helped by the developing legislation in the sphere of entrepreneurial activity, which was amended to include the rights and obligations of women entrepreneurs.

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